A Journey on the Grand Trunk Road
A Journey on the Grand Trunk Road
Cover of ‘From Landi Kotal to Wagah’
Salman Rashid’s new book pairs gorgeous photographs with little-known history in tribute to the grid that has long connected far-flung areas of Pakistan
The extraordinary
From Landi Kotal to Wagah (UNESCO and Sang-e-Meel, 2021) mixes in equal measure excellent photography and storytelling to merit a status above that of the average coffee-table book that is more frills than substance.
Its storyteller is Salman Rashid, Pakistan’s preeminent travel-writer, who is also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. The traveler in him blends with the historian and ethnographer to tell a hitherto untold story of the Grand Trunk Road connecting Peshawar to Lahore. He has written steadily about Pakistan’s far-flung and little known areas for the past 40 years and has contributed to a knowledge of history that is free of the ideological accretions Pakistan is habituated to
secretary of state. but he himself was askedbout this on friday. how has he been preparing, and he responded by saying he s been preparing his entire life. he was really trying to send the signal and remind the international community that he ran on being the dealmaker-in-chief, and that he goes into these sensitive negotiations trying to get the biggest deal of his life, richard. yeah. and secretary of state mike pompeo saying he s been preparing for months. so they re saying there s a lot of backup to this meeting in advance. so great to have you. white house correspondent there covering the president s visit at the g7 with the very latest and breaking news of the communique. we can t twice get our hands on it to find out what we can t wait to get our hands on it to find out what is in it. thank you very much. thank you. lindsey ford, former senior adviser to the assistant secretary of defense for asian and pacific security affairs, professor of korean studies at the fletcher